Soft skills that every finance professional needs

31st May 2018

In today’s financial world, vying for a role is no easy feat, and gone are the days when qualifications alone could help you stand out from other candidates. The finance industry in particular has faced many challenges over the last decade and continues to evolve at a fast pace today, so it is important for employers to look for prospective employees that can demonstrate resilience and level-headedness. Whilst some candidates may naturally possess some of these soft skills, many are also traits that can be developed with time and patience.

Communication

You will undoubtedly have seen it listed on countless job descriptions over the years, but communication remains one of the most valuable skills to demonstrate in order for you, and your organisation, to succeed. Communication comes in many forms, from written and spoken to the nonverbal language and tones we use to convey professionalism and respect, and is essential for a good working relationship with clients and colleagues.

Communicating successfully often involves being able to combine these forms of language effectively, for example by using body language to illustrate your spoken point or reading a situation to adapt your tone and language.

Critical thinking

Critical thinking is a key skill for analysing situations or data to reach a rational judgement, playing a pivotal role in presenting your findings, decision making and prioritisation. By demonstrating these skills, you are showing your ability to solve problems and employers will value that you can be trusted to make decisions without constant supervision.

You can train yourself to become a more critical thinker by engaging more when in discussion, asking questions and focusing on what you are hearing to extract information.

People skills

Whilst closely linked to communication, the ability to work well with others and adopt a diplomatic approach in your work is considered a skill in itself and necessary to reach decisions, provide strong customer service and adapt to working in diverse environments. Showing willingness to listen to your colleagues or clients and reach a compromise is important for productive working relationships and, ultimately, achieving your shared objectives.

Resilience

Candidates should be able to demonstrate their flexibility within any organisation, whether this is shown throughout periods of change, a challenging business environment or when faced with a new situation. By showing the willingness and determination to tackle something outside of your comfort zone, you will quickly reveal your worth to an employer and may even find that such a skill can lead to new opportunities.

How can you learn to be more resilient? Much can be learned from listening to your peers and understanding alternative perspectives, so listen carefully to feedback and be ready to take accountability for oversights to help you develop continually.

At Grafton Banks Finance, we work closely with candidates to ensure that roles are well-suited and relevant to their skillset. If you are looking for a new appointment within the finance industry, contact us today on 01273 229499 or get started by uploading your CV.